Is this so far out of line to have water you can drink from the tap? Are there much in the way of graft in bottled water that prevents this?
- Thread starter Escott
- Start date
What about Potable Water?
there is a solution
Scott,
Not to make commercial promotion on this board, but I distribute UV systems in DR. You can check out my ad in the classified section. I installed it first on my house main line and the lab results (from a canadian lab) came out pure. Now I have drinkable water out of all the taps. The results before indicated presence of fecal coliforms and bacteria. The problem as you must know is that the underground water table is polluted. If the authorities cannot handle the powergrid, I don't think they will start handling water filtration plants. They are broke.
Scott,
Not to make commercial promotion on this board, but I distribute UV systems in DR. You can check out my ad in the classified section. I installed it first on my house main line and the lab results (from a canadian lab) came out pure. Now I have drinkable water out of all the taps. The results before indicated presence of fecal coliforms and bacteria. The problem as you must know is that the underground water table is polluted. If the authorities cannot handle the powergrid, I don't think they will start handling water filtration plants. They are broke.
It is my understanding that the people with drilled wells have good water on the North Coast at least. People who have city water have non usable water.
I also had the ability to sell water purification systems in the DR and posted about this years ago. I was told that the price was too expensive and since a 5 gallon jug of potable water was only 2 bux or something like that I wouldnt be sucessful selling them there.
Why cant they purify the water they deliver through the pipes is my question.
I also had the ability to sell water purification systems in the DR and posted about this years ago. I was told that the price was too expensive and since a 5 gallon jug of potable water was only 2 bux or something like that I wouldnt be sucessful selling them there.
Why cant they purify the water they deliver through the pipes is my question.
thanks Rob
I am in Cabarete. Even if we are on a well, it is polluted. Had it tested before. Have a number of these systems installed and all came with canadian lab results drinkable. The before water results had fecal and bacterial coliforms. Not crazy brushing my teeth with that s...t, even less for my kids. We might be in third world but water is still basic. Did quite alot of research and signed agreement of distribution with very reliable manufacturer. There is quite a price range on the market (from $700-$2500) but they are also no all as effective. Plus have to take into account our power fluctuations. These have electronic controller that have built-in surge protection (up to a level) and even tell you when to replace the lamp and how much time is left on it (which is the "heart" of the system, It burns the bacteria as it flows thrue the carbon sleve inside the stainless steel housing. I even have an electonic water softener. Cuts down on amount of soap have to use.
It is more expensive than bottled water (about $ 100.00/year for lamp cost), but I like to know that what is coming out of my tap is clean.
Scott, do you know how much a filtration plant cost? These guys put more money in their pockets than into the social system. That will not happen soon. Their "personal pension funds" comes first while they are around
I am in Cabarete. Even if we are on a well, it is polluted. Had it tested before. Have a number of these systems installed and all came with canadian lab results drinkable. The before water results had fecal and bacterial coliforms. Not crazy brushing my teeth with that s...t, even less for my kids. We might be in third world but water is still basic. Did quite alot of research and signed agreement of distribution with very reliable manufacturer. There is quite a price range on the market (from $700-$2500) but they are also no all as effective. Plus have to take into account our power fluctuations. These have electronic controller that have built-in surge protection (up to a level) and even tell you when to replace the lamp and how much time is left on it (which is the "heart" of the system, It burns the bacteria as it flows thrue the carbon sleve inside the stainless steel housing. I even have an electonic water softener. Cuts down on amount of soap have to use.
It is more expensive than bottled water (about $ 100.00/year for lamp cost), but I like to know that what is coming out of my tap is clean.
Scott, do you know how much a filtration plant cost? These guys put more money in their pockets than into the social system. That will not happen soon. Their "personal pension funds" comes first while they are around
Such is the situation...
in the DR that even nobrainers like potable water and getting rid of stray dogs (in a recent thread), from which everybody would benefit and to which nobody would seemingly object, still are not feasible.
Concerning bottled water, even if the cost is no object, integrity is. Although I use it just in case, I suspect that it comes right out of the tap, or worse. Even one poor Dominican I know spends precious money on cooking gas to boil the bottled water before letting his family drink it.
Remember where you're at.
in the DR that even nobrainers like potable water and getting rid of stray dogs (in a recent thread), from which everybody would benefit and to which nobody would seemingly object, still are not feasible.
Concerning bottled water, even if the cost is no object, integrity is. Although I use it just in case, I suspect that it comes right out of the tap, or worse. Even one poor Dominican I know spends precious money on cooking gas to boil the bottled water before letting his family drink it.
Remember where you're at.
I never had a problem with the bottled water I use. My guess is that you have that part wrong.
Scott
Scott
Re: Such is the situation...
I hear they are pretty tough on water bottling plants. I know the larger and better known ones all have good quality control.
I do not know of anyone getting sick fron drinking bottles water here. Do you?
andy a said:
I hear they are pretty tough on water bottling plants. I know the larger and better known ones all have good quality control.
I do not know of anyone getting sick fron drinking bottles water here. Do you?
This is as silly a response as I could possibly imagine. Eh?lhtown said:
This is a serious subject and if you have nothing but this to add to the conversation you should just listen instead of showing how silly you are!
Escott,
Sorry if I my post was a bit silly. My point is very real though. In many parts of the country the water only runs a few days a week. I appreciate the need to treat the water (our water sometimes smells like sewer water and has a brackish color), but first things first.
How about working on just getting water first and fixing the pipes and infrastructure? After we are successful in that, the rest will be much easier. It seems to me also that the sporadic outages, dirty, leaky pipes, as well as the cisterns and roof tanks would make any water that was otherwise drinkable quite nasty.
I must admit though, that I do appreciate it when they actually do put chlorine in the water. It has been a number of months since I have noticed it here.
Sorry if I my post was a bit silly. My point is very real though. In many parts of the country the water only runs a few days a week. I appreciate the need to treat the water (our water sometimes smells like sewer water and has a brackish color), but first things first.
How about working on just getting water first and fixing the pipes and infrastructure? After we are successful in that, the rest will be much easier. It seems to me also that the sporadic outages, dirty, leaky pipes, as well as the cisterns and roof tanks would make any water that was otherwise drinkable quite nasty.
I must admit though, that I do appreciate it when they actually do put chlorine in the water. It has been a number of months since I have noticed it here.
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Ihtown, different problems in different places. Where I live (and Escott), the pipes are in and the system working. So now the issue is how to make potable the water that we are getting.
Although we sympathize with you, I don't think we want to wait until your problems are solved before trying to do something to improve potability.
Buena suerte.
Although we sympathize with you, I don't think we want to wait until your problems are solved before trying to do something to improve potability.
Buena suerte.
Well I have never experienced the problems of NO water. I always have water such as it is. Any water is treatable and I wondered why it hadn't been done. Even if they do this in just parts of the country like they did in Mexico.
I have been told that the only reason the electric is a problem is because of graft and bribes for people to make money on the problem and wondered if the same thoughts applied to the water situation.
Regards
Scott
Potable water
A lot of the problem resides in supply and waste.
It is not unusual to see folks washing down the street outside their house, or their driveway. Carwashing is a cumpulsive habit.
On the North shore, there is a serious problem of supply since the easiest supply points, the rivers, have been savaged by the deforestation in the hills behind the coastline. Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete are just a few of the problem areas. Playa Dorada has always suffered.
And the eternal graft and corruption in the construction and administration of the water supply is, as has been pointed out, another prominent point.
In Santiago and Santo Domingo there are municipal corporations that administer the water supply. Generally speaking only a few of the jobs are tied into the patronage system and therefore they work well with trained engineers and a dedicated workforce. At least that has been my experience with the people here in Santiago. That is not to say that there are no deficiencies.
Santiago, like Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete has grown by leaps and bounds over the past two decades, far outstripping the last major overhaul of the water system that was done in 1970-75. And the degradation of the forests in the watershed of the Bao and Yaque Rivers has diminished the capacity of these rivers to supply good water. Most people are astonished when I show them the Yaque river and tell them how 110 years ago, 80 and 100 foor logs were floated down the river to a sawmill located on the banks here in town. A toothpick would have a tough time nowadays. Other, even more dramatic, evidence is the waterfall on the Inoa, where the first hydroelectric plant was located. There are Photos from the 1920s that show an impressive falls. Today one of you, and I, joining hands, could embrace the "falls" and NOT GET WET!
Like many of developmental issues, water, per se, is not seen, nor heard, so nobody pays much attention to it.
Except when it is not there...
HB
A lot of the problem resides in supply and waste.
It is not unusual to see folks washing down the street outside their house, or their driveway. Carwashing is a cumpulsive habit.
On the North shore, there is a serious problem of supply since the easiest supply points, the rivers, have been savaged by the deforestation in the hills behind the coastline. Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete are just a few of the problem areas. Playa Dorada has always suffered.
And the eternal graft and corruption in the construction and administration of the water supply is, as has been pointed out, another prominent point.
In Santiago and Santo Domingo there are municipal corporations that administer the water supply. Generally speaking only a few of the jobs are tied into the patronage system and therefore they work well with trained engineers and a dedicated workforce. At least that has been my experience with the people here in Santiago. That is not to say that there are no deficiencies.
Santiago, like Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete has grown by leaps and bounds over the past two decades, far outstripping the last major overhaul of the water system that was done in 1970-75. And the degradation of the forests in the watershed of the Bao and Yaque Rivers has diminished the capacity of these rivers to supply good water. Most people are astonished when I show them the Yaque river and tell them how 110 years ago, 80 and 100 foor logs were floated down the river to a sawmill located on the banks here in town. A toothpick would have a tough time nowadays. Other, even more dramatic, evidence is the waterfall on the Inoa, where the first hydroelectric plant was located. There are Photos from the 1920s that show an impressive falls. Today one of you, and I, joining hands, could embrace the "falls" and NOT GET WET!
Like many of developmental issues, water, per se, is not seen, nor heard, so nobody pays much attention to it.
Except when it is not there...
HB
Re: Re: Such is the situation...
I don't know the answer any more so than you "know" that no one ever got sick from drinking bottled water here.
Have I known sick people in the DR? Yes.
Have I been sick in the DR? Yes.
Am I sick more in the DR than in the US? Yes, much more in fact, even though I drink only bottled water in the DR and only tap water in the US.
Were there other threads 3 months ago discussing, among other water issues, the closing of certain bottling companies for unsanitary conditions? Yes. Were those companies put out of business before distributing any bottles? Not likely.
Even if the water inside the bottles were purified, are the bottles themselves sanitized? I don't know. I DO know that they certainly look dirty.
Are the seals on bottled water in the DR tamper proof? Not the ones I've seen.
This week, a joke went around in emails in which Socrates asked whether a certain message were "useful".
Is it useful to assume that bottled water in the DR is perfectly safe? I doubt it.
Is it useful to be skeptical of even bottled water in the DR? Probably.
Is it useful to have health insurance even without planning to be sick? The reader can answer for himself.
Does any of this provide an excuse for Dominican tap water not being potable? No.
Robert said:
I don't know the answer any more so than you "know" that no one ever got sick from drinking bottled water here.
Have I known sick people in the DR? Yes.
Have I been sick in the DR? Yes.
Am I sick more in the DR than in the US? Yes, much more in fact, even though I drink only bottled water in the DR and only tap water in the US.
Were there other threads 3 months ago discussing, among other water issues, the closing of certain bottling companies for unsanitary conditions? Yes. Were those companies put out of business before distributing any bottles? Not likely.
Even if the water inside the bottles were purified, are the bottles themselves sanitized? I don't know. I DO know that they certainly look dirty.
Are the seals on bottled water in the DR tamper proof? Not the ones I've seen.
This week, a joke went around in emails in which Socrates asked whether a certain message were "useful".
Is it useful to assume that bottled water in the DR is perfectly safe? I doubt it.
Is it useful to be skeptical of even bottled water in the DR? Probably.
Is it useful to have health insurance even without planning to be sick? The reader can answer for himself.
Does any of this provide an excuse for Dominican tap water not being potable? No.
Wow, well, I have NEVER been sick from drinking Bottled water in the DR. Maybe I have been lucky or maybe I have a stomach of iron, I am not sure but I can tell you one thing when I brush my teeth using tap water and even spitting it out I got the edge of a bad thing but I was ok.
There are bad eggs in every business so it doesn't surprise me to hear that businesses were closed down for NOT meeting proper conditions in the bottled water business. Makes me happy to hear actually because I never would have guessed that there were any controls on anything health related in the DR.
Now, what cant they serve up proper drinking water out of the tap? That is the question of the day here.
Scott
There are bad eggs in every business so it doesn't surprise me to hear that businesses were closed down for NOT meeting proper conditions in the bottled water business. Makes me happy to hear actually because I never would have guessed that there were any controls on anything health related in the DR.
Now, what cant they serve up proper drinking water out of the tap? That is the question of the day here.
Scott
penantial
i am accustomed to drinking lots of water and also i have a sensitive stomach...don't want to unjustly put this company down(maybe it is just me) but I have been drinking penantial water(5 gallon bottle) for 3 days now and it is starting to get to me...it is making my stomach churn...i have narrowed it down to the water because all the food i have eaten has been throughly cooked anything with water has been boiled longer like rice, arina etc...so i believe it is either the water or the soda?? i don't think it is the soda though? or could it be the soda?(pepsi)
short of buying a water filtration system or boiling the water what else is there? i saw they sell some kind of drops at the store do these work?
thanks!
and love the weather!!!
i am accustomed to drinking lots of water and also i have a sensitive stomach...don't want to unjustly put this company down(maybe it is just me) but I have been drinking penantial water(5 gallon bottle) for 3 days now and it is starting to get to me...it is making my stomach churn...i have narrowed it down to the water because all the food i have eaten has been throughly cooked anything with water has been boiled longer like rice, arina etc...so i believe it is either the water or the soda?? i don't think it is the soda though? or could it be the soda?(pepsi)
short of buying a water filtration system or boiling the water what else is there? i saw they sell some kind of drops at the store do these work?
thanks!
and love the weather!!!